1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector which is connected to a fluorescent tube for a backlight of a liquid crystal display device, etc., and a liquid crystal display device including the same.
2. Description of Related Arts
For example, as a connecting structure of a terminal of a fluorescent tube such as a cold cathode fluorescent tube to be used as a backlight of a liquid crystal display type television or monitor, the following documents 1 and 2 have been proposed:    Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-250605 (date of publication: Sep. 14, 2001)    Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-259645 (date of publication: Sep. 16, 2004)
In the documents 1 and 2, a connection fitting fixed to one end of an electric wire is soldered to a terminal (electrode) of a cold cathode fluorescent tube. The other end of the electric wire is connected to an inverter circuit via a connector. Electric power from the inverter circuit is supplied to the cold cathode fluorescent tube via the connector and the electric wire.
However, in the documents 1 and 2, a continuity failure may occur between the terminal and the connection fitting due to defective soldering. In addition, the soldering is troublesome. In particular, the cold cathode fluorescent tube has a thin shape with a diameter of several millimeters, and the terminal is thinner than this, so that handling of these requires great care. Therefore, enormous labor is required for soldering.
Not only the case of using a cold cathode fluorescent tube but also cases of using other fluorescent tubes such as an external electrode fluorescent tube or using a shaft-like terminal other than the fluorescent tubes also have a similar problem.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector that realizes reliable and easy connection of a shaft-like terminal and a liquid crystal display device including the same.